all the environmental concerns that developing countries face, the lack of adequatewater of good quality is probably the most serious.

Safe potable water is very vital forlife.

The objective of this study is to survey and evaluate the variation in the potablewater quality in some selected Egyptian governorates.

The regions without safedrinking water were delineated; the regions without enough drinking water supply andthe regions with problems in potable water networks had been identified.

Finally manysolutions of these problems have been recommended in order to help the decisionmakers to improve the potable water quality in Egypt.

INTRODUCTION

Water is essential to sustain life, and availability of safe drinking water is veryimportant.

To ensure this, reliance has to be placed on regular bacteriological analysesto assess potability and to determine the best course of action for protecting thepopulation against waterborne diseases.

Drinking water should be clear, cool, freefrom objectionable tastes and odors and from harmful chemicals and microorganisms.

Of these desired sanitary qualities, freedom from harmful micorganisms is mostdifficult to achieve.

It is not impossible, but it demands constant vigilance andrepeated testing.

The problem is made more acute because water sources are subjectedto contamination by human and animal wastes which most probably contains a varietyof bacteria, viruses and other microbial pathogens.

Water containing only a very fewpathogens in each liter may by sufficiently polluted to cause the spread of infectiousdiseases such as cholera, typhoid, dysentery, hepatitis,... etc. Purification of water to beused for drinking is therefore necessary and must be controlled by constant testing.

In Egypt, a plan for big water treatment plants has been prepared since the last twodecades to provide safe potable water, for rural areas and secondary cities.

This planwas in need of time for design and construction of these plants.

So a decision for usingthe water treatment compact units was taken as a temporary solution till the finish ofthe big projects.

Now and after about 22 years of their application , about 560 of these Compact units have been constructed inEgypt, and the compact units become one of the options for production of potablewater as a permanent solution in rural areas of Egypt for both villages and towns

coagulated with alum, pre-chlorinated, filtered through 14 sand and carbon flters, postchlorinated.and pumped from tanks through the distribution systems.

In the compactunits water is treated in the same manner as in conventional systems, but in thecompact systems filters are reduced to three sand filters.

The methods used for thesanitary water analysis were those recommended by the American Public HealthAssociation .

Considering the drinking water resources, the individual’s expenditure in Egypt wasaround 1000 m3/yr at a population size of 58 million.

By the year 2000 it decreased to957 m3/yr which can be divided as 7% and 93% for the domestic use and the industrialand agricultural uses, respectively.

Compared to the minimumdemand required per individual (1300 m3) it can be seen that Egypt is far below thatlevel.

It is worth mentioning that the per capita water income in the USA, India, China,and the international level are 10.000, 2.430, 2.520, and 2.500 m3, respectively. Thus,it can be concluded that the Egyptian water expenditure is about 38% of theinternational level.

Egypt has 217 cities that are 100% covered by potable water network, while thesanitation network covers only 38%.

· There are also 4617 villages, 43% of which are covered by potable waternetwork while sanitation network is extended to only 4%.

· The government’s plan up till the year 2012 regarding potable water andsanitation is:

· Management of existing assets & facilities.

· Replacement of depreciated plants & networks.

· Establishment of new projects for the new communities.

In Egypt, the River Nile is the main source of drinking water and other purposes; everyeffort should be made to achieve drinking water quality as high as practicable,otherwise people life are extremely subjected to hazardous effects.

Proper selectionand protection of water sources to be used for supplying water treatment systems areof prime importance in the provision of safe drinking water.

In the present research paper, the problems of potable water in Egypt were delineated.

The Sharkia Governorate was taken as a case study.

Four water treatment plants weresubjected to bacteriological and physico-chemical analysis following the APHA standard procedures in order to determine the sanitary quality of the producedwater and its suitability for human consumption.

The investigated water treatmentsystems were selected to represent the different running water treatment systems inSharkia Governorate.

2. Problem definition

The water treatment plants have got to face the following problems that largely affectthe quality of water produced

(a) The relatively high levels of alum dose and the relevant problems in terms ofaluminum residues in water and the duly high expenses of water produced.

(b) The relatively high levels of added chlorine to raw water (prechlorination) toreduce total counts of bacteria and fungi and similarly the added chlorine to thefiltered water (postchlorination).

The high level of bacteria is ascribed to thedrained sewage, which leads also to growth of fungi and to increased amounts ofnitrogenous and phosphorous salts.

As the dose of chlorine increases, it leads toincreased concentration of organochlorinated compounds that are known ascarcinogenic and mutagenic.

Therefore, the well-known trend to replacechlorination by ozonation for disinfection is actively suggested.

(c) The currently implemented processes of water treatment are inefficient inremoving residues of pesticides and organochlorinated pollutants.

Furthermore,they are also insufficient in removing parasites, viruses, and other non-parasiticmicroorganisms.

As a result, these residues of chemical and biological pollutantsmay persistently remain in drinking water.

(d) The growing levels of biological and chemical pollutants in raw water imposeheavy burden on the efficiency of sand filters leading to blockages anddevelopment of microbial colonies, such as Nematode larvae which mayeventually be present in drinking water.

Other difficulties are related to the drinking water distribution system, such as theageing of some networks, leakage to groundwater and sewer systems, deterioration ofmunicipal and buildings’ water reservoirs, and the chlorinated compounds.

SURVEY OF POTABLE WATER STATUS

The following section include a survey of the main problems of water supply isillustrated including the deterioration of drinking water quality and the problem indistribution networks

1. Regions with problem in network distribution

The survey deducted that the Behira , Kafrel Sheigh , Kalioubia ,Sharkia , Aswan , Beni Sweif and Elminia has the following problems in network distribution:

· Aging of pipes that results in cracking and explosion in pipes

· the low water pressure in some regions due to informal pipes connections

· The increase in abstraction of water on the design rates due population increase.

· The loss in produced water due to the aging of networks and the nonmaintenance of the public valves.

· No existence of cleaning valves in the end of pipes that results in the increase ofprecipitation and reduction in the amount of water to consumers and theincrease in the probability of pollution

· No residual in chlorine in the end of pipes due to the increase in pollution dueto precipitation in pipes and the big length of pipes

2. Regions with problems in the use of compact water purifications plantsThe following regions: Dakahlia ,Bheira , Kafr Elsheikh , fayoum, Ismailia , Kalioubia , Sharkia have the following problems:

· The intakes of these regions exist on end of canals and the low water level isaffected by the winter closure period.

· The high pollution of the river intakes due to the misuse of inhabitants such asthe cleaning of dishes, of animals and clothes).

· The operation and maintenance is done by unqualified trainees.

3. Regions with problems in water bacteriological pollution

There is bacteriological pollution in the groundwater in the following regions:

Potable water is not compatible to the healthy water regulations in some locations asfollows:

· Water is polluted in some regions with manganese as in Giza Governorate,Gharbia Governorate.

Also high concentration of manganese is observed inAssiut Governorate .

· Water is polluted in some regions due to the increase of iron and manganeseconcentrations as in MinoufiaGovernorate.

EL SHARKIA GOVERNERATE WATER TREATMENT PLANTSCASE STUDY

El Sharkia Governorate is chosen as case study and includes many of the aboveproblems especially in Hosainia water treatment plant (34 thousands m3/day for 327thousands capita) whose intake exits at the end of Salhia Canal.

A detailed survey ofthis plant is conducted for 15 months and the analysis of water quality parameters(Residual chlorine, total dissolved solids, chlorides, turbidity, calcium, sulfate,Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite) are illustrated and theresults are compared with other water treatment plants in the same region such asAbou Kebir, Fakous (51 thousands m3/day) and Kafr Sakr (102 thousands m3/day)water treatment plants.

The results of the physico-chemical analysis of the potable water produced by thedifferent water treatment systems under investigation clearly establish the fact that allvalues of the various parameter tested with respect to the treated water are compatiblewith the recommended standards by the Egyptian regulation (1985) and WHO (1995)guidelines.

The only exception is that the values of residual chlorine in the treated water producedARE above the standard. Also, the dissolved solids are very high at Elhosainia watertreatment plant due to the high drainage effluents from Elsalhia el Gedida area.

The results of the microbiological investigations revealed that the potable Waterproduced by all of the 4 conventional water treatment plants were compatible with therecommended standard by the Egyptian regulations.

However, these water treatmentplants exhibited different efficacies for turbidity and bacterial removal.

4- The increase of organic and chemical pollution of surface water and groundwater.

5- The use of one fixed system for the water treatment plants all over the country andthis is not compatible with the types of pollution in different places.

6- The actual price of water is not compatible with the real production cost.

Therefore the following items are recommended:

1- With respect to the water treatment systems:

The analysis and monitoring of water must be conducted to define the watercharacteristics and identification of the biological and chemical pollutants throughthe establishment of a database for the water type that must be purified and treatedfor the production of healthy water and therefore identification of the optimum

treatment technique that realizes the following:

The ability of the system to remove all the pathogens in the treatment process,

There is no effects on the human health due to the use of disinfectant such aschlorine that forms carcinogenic compounds after reaction with dissolvedorganic matter in the main water source,

The system must guarantee the healthy potable water arriving to the consumerthrough the water distribution network,

The system must be economic and easy to maintain and operate,

With respect to the production of water and distribution networks.The production operation of water and distribution must have the following

components of any industrial production operation:

The raw material: the abstracted water,

The product: the pure drinking water,

The tools of production: the purification units,

The tools of product transportation: the distribution networks and theconnections to housing,

The market: the water consumers.

Therefore the following requirements must be fulfilled:

The management capable of developing the performance and realizing theobjectives and have the authorities to fulfill the responsibilities,

The trainee personals on all levels from the technical employees andmanagement,

The cost benefit analysis that realizes the self funding that guarantee thecoverage of operation cost, the maintenance and the expansion.